The present invention relates to building construction methods and, more particularly, to a spiral incremental structure for residential and commercial buildings and the method of its construction.
Modular building construction and the use of modular building components is well known in the prior art. Many previous efforts have been directed to achieving functional designs that provide for an appearance of angularity in building construction, that is, where the building footprint and room layout are dominated by something other than 90 degree corners. Such prior art designs have commonly used hexagonal units or modules in their construction. The hexagonal modules found in such prior art patents generally stand alone or combine multiple hexagons to create a honeycomb effect.
However, none of these prior art structures succeed in achieving substantial versatility and/or reasonable cost savings over on-site construction. One disadvantage of such modular constructions is the incorporation of building details, technologies, and construction methods that are not easily adapted to manufacturers that currently construct, pre-cut, panelized and modular buildings.
Still other prior art constructions reduce the hexagonal form to a more basic building module: the equilateral triangle. With such triangular systems the previously described cost and versatility problems still exist and, in addition, such triangular schemes also introduce a further problem when using common building materials. For example, commonly sold rectangular floor and roof materials fit very awkwardly into a triangular module.
Further, none of the prior art systems has achieved a cost effective means of making additions to the basic structure without the necessity of digging new foundations, demolition of portions of the original structure and landscape restoration after the addition is completed.
Thus, the present invention has been developed to resolve these problems and other shortcomings of the prior art.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a spiral incremental structure and construction method by which residential and/or commercial buildings can be built in a hexagonal or other common shape using a plurality of polygonal building sections or so-called pods in their construction. The pods are constructed of prefabricated components, which are substantially similar in their size and configuration, and are assembled symmetrically about a central core designed to contain ductwork, conduit, vents, pipes and other utility apparatus for the building.
A unique feature of the present structure is that the individual pods are supported on stepped foundation piers at progressively higher elevations above ground level. The vertical rise between adjacent pods is referred to as an increment. In a preferred embodiment the arrangement of six pods about a central core to produce an overall hexagonal structure results in an increase of about 10 feet or one story in floor elevation per revolution about the core. This produces a building structure that is generally analogous to a large spiral staircase wherein the floor of each pod is represented by a tread of the staircase. Thus, the present invention is designated a spiral incremental structure for purposes of this application.
A particular advantage of the present construction is that it may be efficiently and cost effectively expanded into a multi-story building by adding new pods at any time after the initial construction phase without digging a new foundation or demolishing portions of the original. This is facilitated by the disassembly of roof sections constructed with removable fasteners and rubber washers, prefabricated roof panels, prefabricated wall sections, prefabricated ceiling/floor joist assemblies, and combination truss/rafters and the reuse of such structural components in the expanded structure.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated.
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception upon which this disclosure is based may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods, and systems for carrying out the purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
Other features and technical advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a study of the following description and the accompanying drawings.